Reviews by johanlefourbe

To be honest, I kept hearing that this movie was going to be a flop but, since I have seen everything from the MCU, even the mini-series on Disney+, of course, I was eager to check this movie. Well, since I didn’t have some huge expectations, I thought it was still fairly enjoyable, even if it was probably one of the weakest MCU instalments so far. The first thing that I enjoyed was that, after the Avengers, Marvel gave us their 2^nd team of super-heroes and they were really awesome together. On top of that, I really liked the connection they had between each other. The other thing that I enjoyed with this movie was that, finally, they gave us a movie which had some clear connections with the Disney+ mini-series (‘WandaVision’ and ‘Ms. Marvel’) which was pretty neat and quite rewarding if you are a long time fan of the MCU. Unfortunately, well, pretty much nothing else was interesting and/or entertaining enough in this movie. Indeed, the cool thing with Captain Marvel is that she is a really powerful super-hero who can travel through space so they could have given her any kind of weird intriguing new opponent to fight against. However, they went for the Kree who were already the same villain in her previous movie which was really disappointing. To make things worse, the whole revenge plot by Dar-Benn was just so generic and predictable, it was just a bore to behold. Eventually, it was just a really weak way to make sure that Monica Rambeau would then end up in other multi-verse at the end of the movie. One last thing it did appreciate though was that the movie was shorter than 2 hrs, in fact, it was even the shortest MCU instalment so far but it was a good thing as there is absolutely no reason why such brainless blockbusters should last around 150 mins. Anyway, to conclude, in spite of its flaws, it was still a decent watch though and I think it is worth a look but probably only if you really like the genre. 

I have to admit that I had no idea what to expect from this movie and it did seem to be a rather obscure feature but since it was directed by William Wyler, I thought I might as well check it out. First of all, it must be one of the most misguiding and unintentionally funny titles I have seen. Indeed, this movie had actually nothing to do with a gay man or woman deceiving someone else. Anyway, to be honest, I usually don’t care much about such vintage screwballs comedies but I have to admit that this one was actually fairly entertaining. Sure, as usual with the genre, the story was rather convoluted and, in theory, I usually wouldn’t care much for this kind of shenanigans. However, somehow, this one worked though, at least, for me. First of all, there is the fact that William Wyler was a top director and, even if he didn’t have a critical hit yet at the time, he definitely knew how to direct a movie and how to elevate such seemingly fluffy material. The thing that I enjoyed the most though were the solid performances by Francis Lederer and Frances Dee. Indeed, their respective characters were rather stereotypical and in fact hardly entertaining and, yet, they were both really charismatic and had some nice chemistry together. To be honest, even though it was quite clear why Sandro would fall in love with Mirabel, I wish they spent slightly more time explaining why Mirabel did fall for him. On the other hand, with not even 80 mins of running time, there was just no time to go really deep into the motivations of the characters and it was also obviously not the point of this movie. Anyway, to conclude, even if it was not a masterpiece, it was still a decent vintage comedy and I think it is worth a look, especially if you like the genre.

To be honest, I had no idea what to expect from this flick but since there was a decent cast involved, I thought I might as well check it out. Well, I have to admit that the story did have some potential and I really liked the mood. Indeed, I thought it was actually a solid vintage serial-killer thriller taking place in Victorian London. Eventually, it’s too bad that they went for such a messy approach though. Indeed, I have never been a fan of the random chronology and it certainly didn’t improve this tale here. They also went for some ‘Rashomon’ approach which had some potential but they didn’t really go very far in that direction. Still, it was fun that they included some real figures like Karl Marx, Dan Leno and George Gissing (even though I have to admit that I had never heard of Leno and Gissing before watching this movie). Furthermore, [Link removed - login to see], who was probably the main reason why I wanted to see this movie in the first place, was pretty good and so charming as usual. Eventually, they did end with a twist but, since it is so inherent to the genre, it was hardly surprising. Even worse, it was not really interesting and it didn’t really work out. Indeed, in my opinion, it did ruin Olivia Cooke’s and Bill Nighy’s respective characters. I mean, the whole point was to show that Kildare was a brilliant and underestimated detective but it made him look like an idiot who couldn’t identify the killer when she was actually in front of him the whole time. For Lizzie Cree, it was even worse as it so completely contradicted how the character was presented through the whole duration. Anyway, to conclude, in spite of its flaws, it was still a decent watch though and I think it is worth a look, especially if you like the genre. 

I wasn’t really sure what to expect from this flick but since I have a weak spot for such stories, I thought I might as well check it out. To be honest, I have to admit that I had never heard of Diana Nya before watching this movie so it was pretty neat to get acquainted with this incredible woman and her impressive achievement(s) and the fact that I didn’t know anything about her probably help me to enjoy this movie even more. Indeed, I had no idea that it took her some many attempts to finally reach her lifetime goal. Of course, you know from the start how it will end and the idea of watching someone swimming seemingly endlessly might not seem really exciting but I think the makers made the most of this true story. It’s only afterwards that I remembered that it was directed by the same couple who made the amazing ‘Free Solo’ which was dealing with a similar topic. I mean, to see Nyad swimming for hours was maybe not as thrilling as watching Alex Honnold climbing El Capitan but they still managed to make it entertaining though. The other thing that really made this movie work was the relationship between Diana Nyad and her best friend/coach Bonnie Stoll. Maybe it’s too bad that we didn’t see them at all outside the context of this great challenge but I still think that they were 2 very interesting women and it was probably one of the best depictions of BFFs I have ever seen. It did also help that Annette Bening and Jodie Foster both gave some solid performances here and it was really neat to see such fine actresses at the top of their game. Anyway, to conclude, even if it was nothing really groundbreaking, it was still a solid sports biopic and I think it is worth a look, especially if you like the genre.

To be honest, I wasn’t expecting much from this flick but I still ended up watching the damned thing though. Well, even though the concept did sound rather lame, I have to admit that I was actually rather positively surprised by the approach they took. Indeed, against all expectations, all these college girls, except for one obligatory and unnecessary bad guy/girl, actually embraced and even loved this middle-aged mother joining them in college which was actually quite refreshing. Unfortunately, pretty much nothing else worked in this movie though. I mean, there is nothing really funny or entertaining about making a character loud and obnoxious and this movie was not an exception, I’m afraid. In fact, it was when they actually toned down the rather hysterical behavior of the main character, showing that she was a nice lady who actually cared for these girls, that the movie actually almost worked. I say ‘almost’ because the concept still remained pretty weak. To make things worse, beside a (really) few decent jokes, the vast majority of these jokes was just pretty lame though. For example, the main character did get involved in a sexual relationship with a college student who happened to be the son of her ex-man’s new wife which was supposed to obviously hilarious. However, it was neither really funny or really awkward but, to make things worse, they kept repeating it over and over again hoping that it will become entertaining at some point. Another thing that bothered me was that the fact that, sure, this middle-aged woman did indeed end up with a college degree in archeology at the end… but then so what? I really wonder if she would then manage to find a job afterwards in this sector but it was obviously not the point of this movie though. Anyway, to conclude, the damned thing was still rather weak and I don’t think it is really worth a look. 

Since I kept hearing some pretty good things about this movie, I was quite eager to check it out. Since I’m an immigrant myself, son of an immigrant, I’m always fascinated by such stories, especially when it is so perfectly handled as it was definitely the case here. Indeed, with this movie, you didn’t have 1 but 3 fascinating intricate characters and, as a result, it was probably the best love triangle I have ever seen. Indeed, there was no good guy, no bad guy, only some really realistic and convincing human-beings dealing with some complex feelings. As pointed out by Arthur himself, in a weaker movie, he would have probably been the evil jealous White husband doing everything he can to prevent his wife to see her childhood crush. But, even if he was a nice guy who really loved his wife, it doesn’t mean that his situation was easy though. Concerning his wife, Nora, she was probably the character who got the most screen time and it was just so fascinating to see her wrestling with her past, her present, her culture baggage, and, eventually, you don’t get some clean clear-cut answers but that’s how it goes in real life and that’s how it’s supposed to be. Concerning Jung Hae Sung, you get the feeling that he will never really manage to let go of this childhood romance but you spend enough time with him to see that, even if he cherished every minute he spent with Nora, he was so compassionate towards her, even towards her husband, it was quite inspiring to behold. Another interesting thing is that they argued that Nora made her choice to be where she ended up but, in fact, she never really made this choice in the first place. Indeed, it was her parents who took the decision to immigrate to Canada, she would have never made this choice at 12 years old, and you can only wonder what would have been her relationship with Jung Hae Sung if her parents who have decided to stay in South Korea. Anyway, to conclude, the damned thing was just so fascinating and it is easily one of the best movies I have seen this year. 

I wasn’t really sure what to expect from this flick but since it was starring [Link removed - login to see], I thought I might as well check it out. To be honest, it has been years since I saw ‘Dirty Rotten Scoundrels’ (I apparently did enjoy it though) and I can’t say I was really dying to see a remake of this movie. Still, I have to admit that I always had a weak spot for movies dealing with con artists and the idea of focusing on 2 female con artists played by Anne Hathaway and Rebel Wilson did sound actually pretty cool. Unfortunately, even if the concept certainly had some potential, the end-result turned out to be hardly entertaining after all, I’m afraid. Above all, it seems that they really messed up the script. For example, how many times did they go back-and-forth between having the two main characters working together and then competing with each other? Seriously, they should have made up their mind at some point and go in a specific direction instead. Another issue was that all the cons were rather disappointing and most of them were not really convincing. I mean, the whole ‘Lord of the Rings’ scam was rather pathetic and I’m not even sure if it was actually the worst of the bunch. The fact that Alex Sharp’s character also turned out to be a con artist was also terribly predictable and not interesting or entertaining whatsoever. Eventually, pretty much nothing did work in this movie, except for Anne Hathaway and Rebel Wilson themselves. Indeed, they were actually both not bad at all but there was not much they could do with this poor material. Anyway, to conclude, the damned thing turned out to be pretty weak and I don’t think it is really worth a look. 

To be honest, I wasn’t really sure what to expect from this flick but since it was the only directorial effort from Céline Sciamma that I haven’t seen so far, I was quite eager to check it out. Eventually, if her approach was as usual really sober, the emotion going underneath all these girls turned out to be so intense, it was rather heartbreaking but also quite fascinating to behold. Indeed, all these young women were going through their sexual awakening and this process was hardly a picnic for any of them. Indeed, if they are attractive, they are basically constantly harassed by all men, younger, from the same age and way older than them and, if they are not traditionally attractive or are even downright ugly, well, they are completely ignored as if they didn’t exist at all. And, if they turn out to be gay like Marie, the situation becomes even more complicated and confusing. Hell, even the boys seem to be really confused but even though Sciamma’s focus on girls is always intriguing, she tends to really reduce the boys to some horny dogs whose only goal is to have sex as quickly as possible. Even if it might not be far from the truth, men are just as complicated as women are but that’s something Sciamma doesn’t care about at all. On the other hand, the vast majority of movies focus only on men and relegate women to either damsels in distress or to some rather passive love interests. Another interesting thing with this movie was the complete absence of parents. Sure, they were mentioned a few times but you never see them and they were certainly never involved but I think it did make sense. Indeed, around that age, you usually take your distance from your parents who are often reduced to nuisances who are only there to take care of the bills and the meals. Anyway, to conclude, even if I don’t think it was really a masterpiece, it was still a really solid directorial début and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you like the genre. 

I wasn’t sure what to expect from this flick but since there was a decent cast involved, I thought I might as well check it out. Well, even though it was based on a very interesting true story, to be honest, the end-result left like a low-rent version of ‘The Wolf of Wall Street’. Concerning Emily Blunt, I always had a weak spot for this actress, she was in fact the main reason why I wanted to watch this movie in the first place and she was pretty good in here. It’s too bad I didn’t care much for the trajectory her character followed. On the other hand, even though Chris Evans is usually quite charismatic, I thought he was actually rather weak here and he never really convinced me playing a foul-mouthed sales representative. However, the biggest issue was probably that the damned thing was directed by David Yates. Indeed, even though he has probably been one of the most successful directors in terms of box-office results thanks to the Harry Potter franchise, he is not really what you could call an ‘author’ and he is certainly not Martin Scorsese. I mean, it’s not that it was awful, like pretty much every other movies delivered by Yates, it was competently made but not much more than that. Seriously, you might have more fun reading a Wikipedia page retelling these events. Sure, I’m not saying that they necessarily had to go for the same wacky tone displayed in ‘The Wolf of Wall Street’ but they clearly flirted with a similar approach. However, they never really committed themselves to this tone so maybe they should have gone for something else. Anyway, to conclude, in spite of its flaws, it was still a decent watch but, to be honest, with such a strong tale, it should have been so much better though.  

To be honest, I wasn’t really sure what to expect from this flick but I kept hearing about Charlie Chan, I thought I might as well check one of the movies starring this character. Back then, they made a whopping 47 installments and it was in fact the 11^th movie starring this character. However, for the completists, I'm afraid the first 2 installments are lost. Anyway, it’s too bad the video I saw on YouTube was of very poor quality but, beside this, I have to admit that I was actually surprised by how entertaining the damned thing turned out to be. Indeed, the directing was rather average but there was something nicely pulpy about the story. Concerning Charlie Chan, he turned out to be some kind of Asian version of Hercule Poirot but the guy was definitely entertaining and Warner Oland, who played the character in 16 movies in total, was pretty good, even if he was actually Swedish and not Asian at all. Eventually, the only thing that really bothered me was the sometimes awful racist stereotypes they displayed, especially with Snowshoes. It was just weird and even nauseating to see all these White characters being played straight and, suddenly, this Black character being played as a completely dim-witted and slightly hysterical coward just to have a good laugh. Seriously, it was awful and it did actually ruin the damned thing for me. It’s as if, because the only smart and interesting character was Asian, they had to make sure that the most stupid character was not White, to make sure the White audience was not offended. Anyway, to conclude, in spite of its flaws, I have to admit that it was still a decent watch and I think it is worth a look, especially if you like the genre.